The Appleton
City Journal,
St. Clair Co., MO,
Thursday, April 28, 1887

News article regarding the destructive tornado that occurred on Apr. 21, 1887,
as copied from The Appleton City Journal, St. Clair Co., MO, Thursday, April 28,
1887:

WIND AND HAIL,

Creates Death and Destruction of Life and
Property.

The Terrible Storms on Thursday Night.

__________

(From Saturday’s Journal Extra)

The Journal supposed that its contemporary in
its issue of this morning would furnish our people with the details of Thursday
night’s terrible storms but as it did not the Journal has hastily prepared the
following:

In its issue of the 14th, inst.,
the Journal published a prognostication by Prof. Foster of the weather for April
in which it was predicted that a severe moon storm would occur in this latitude
on the 21st, and no one now doubts the fact that it failed to arrive
on schedule time. As to just what particular relations it sustained to the moon
we are not prepared to say; but, as regards its merits as a hail, wind and rain
storm, we can give Prof. Foster and the weather clerk every assurance that it
was a success.

The first storm struck Appleton City a little
after eight o’clock at night and for about forty minutes rain and hail came down
as if the flood-gates above had been thrown wide open. The hailstones were the
largest that, in all probability ever fell in this locality, many stones being
picked up that weighed three ounces; but fortunately, during the falling of the
hail, there was very little wind, and the damage to vegetation and window glass
is not half what it would have been if the hail had been given the additional
force of a strong wind. As it was many of the windows on the north side of
buildings were shattered. The icy missiles falling on the house-tops sounded
like a shower of brick-bats, while the continual glare of lightning and din of
the storm made a scene that caused even the strong nerved to tremble. The
tremendous fall of rain gave the streets the appearance of miniature rivers and
the roar of the mad, rushing tide contributed to make the scene more fearful.

Mr. Burdge, at the Art Gallery suffered the
greatest loss from the effects of the hail, the sky-light in his building being
badly shattered.

Several persons in the city picked up hail
stones that measured three inches round, and one gentleman west of the city
tells us that he picked up several large hailstones that had blades of grass
imbedded on the inside. The grass, of course, was torn up by the cyclone and
carried into the current of air that caused the hail, where it was frozen into
the ice.

Every year since cyclones have been so
numerous Appleton City has had a narrow escape from a visit by these terrible
death-dealing monsters of the elements, and it does seem that our beautiful city
has been provided with some mysterious, but effective, safeguard against such
visits.

It is said that considerable damage resulted
from the wind in the country, and that the high water washed away a great amount
of fencing. The residence of a Mr. Knowland living between here and Rockville
was demolished by the wind and Mrs. Knowland suffered severe injuries from
falling timbers. Mr. Knowland was on a sick bed with pneumonia, and was exposed
to the fury of the storm until carried into the barn.

Several barns in the vicinity of Rockville
were blown down and a number of residences more or less injured.

Thos. Payne’s large barn was badly damaged,
either by wind or lightning; also the barn on the Thomas place.

The heaviest part of the wind storm passed
south and east of Appleton City and there are many rumors regarding the loss of
life and damage to property that resulted in Monegaw, Taber, Osage and other
townships; but the Journal has been unable to get reliable information up to
this time.

DESTRUCTION IN MONEGAW.

Mr. John Payne and others who were in the
city yesterday brought the horrible news regarding the destruction of a Mr.
Hall’s home. Hall lived a short distance south of the Center School House, and
his house, a small frame, was swept entirely away, while every member of the
family were more or less injured, and two or three it is feared fatally. Mrs.
Hall and one boy at last accounts were still unconscious and suffering from
terrible bruises. Every vestige of furniture in the house it is said was
scattered over the fields and completely destroyed.

The store of Dr. Wheeler and a blacksmith
shop at Johnson City were blown off their foundations, but not greatly damaged.

The practicing physician at Ohio was in town
this morning and reported the Hall family all in a fair way to recovery with the
exception of the little boy, who will probably die.

THE STORM ELSEWHERE.

Rich Hill Daily Herald.---The south fork of
the tornado traveled northeast from Prescott, passing to the south of Hume and
between Hume and Sprague.

Miles Miller’s residence half way between
Hume and Sprague was totally demolished, and his wife and child blown into the
well and drowned. It is reported Mr. Miller is blown away and has not yet been
heard from.

At Miami two houses were lifted into the air
thirty or forty feet, and a woman dropped from one of the flying buildings, but
luckily was not dangerously hurt.

The dwelling of Dwight Smith, 3½ miles
northwest of Rich Hill near the Gulf mines, was literally torn to atoms, the
house being leveled to the ground, not even the foundation remaining. Mrs. Smith
had her right leg dislocated and fractured just above the ankle, and other
slight injuries. Mrs. Ryan, a daughter of Mrs. Smith and her two children were
in the house at the time, and were all three hurt. Mrs. Ryan was injured
internally, and when seen by a reporter was suffering great pain and spitting
blood. The two children were hurt about the body and face by falling timber,
while they are badly injured the physicians say they are not in a dangerous
condition. A young man by the name of DeArmond, was cut about the face by flying
timbers. Mr. Smith had just taken a crock of milk to the cellar, and thus
escaped being buried beneath the debris. There was no insurance on the property
and everything is a total loss.

AT SPRAGUE,

This little town in Bates county suffered
greatly from the effects of the storm. The Christian and Methodist churches and
the Methodist parsonage were torn to pieces, but the inmates of the latter
escaped without bodily injury. Lumber from the yards was scattered all over the
prairie, and the depot was unroofed. A Mrs. Graves with a young baby in her arms
was holding the door of her residence, when the cyclone struck the house,
completely wrecking it. The baby was gently taken out of its mother’s arms by
the wind and deposited in a potato patch 75 or 100 feet away. Mr. and Mrs.
Graves and two boys were all fatally injured, besides two other persons in the
house were badly used up.

Southwest of Sprague, between Hume and the
former place, farm houses and barns were completely demolished and at Miles
Miller’s the storm did its worst work. A niece of Mrs. Miller saw the storm
coming and ran to the storm house with the youngest child and gained its shelter
while the other members of the family remained to fasten as securely as possible
the windows and doors of the residence, when they started to a place of safety.
Hardly had they left the house when the heavy gust struck the well curb, by
which they had to pass in order to reach the underground house, lifting it high
in the air and dropping it into a cow lot 100 feet beyond, and the fated three
were precipitated to the bottom of the well to meet their death either from
drowning or the fall. The bodies were recovered last night and prepared for
burial to-day.

Della Brown, a niece of Mr. Miller’s relates
the following:

“Uncle Miles was at the barn feeding and we
were preparing supper, when he came running to the house and caught up one of
the children and called to us to run for the storm-cellar. We went out at the
south door, but before we could reach the cellar the storm struck us, throwing
us to the ground. This is the last I saw of them, for the roar of the storm
drowned all other sounds. The wind blew me past the cellar-door, but I managed
to crawl back to the mouth of the cave.

“Just then the little boy blew toward me and
I crawled out and caught him under my arm, and was again blown out toward the
orchard, and must have struck a tree, for I became insensible. When I came to,
the rain was falling on my face and all was quiet. I got up, still having the
little boy in my arms, but could not find Uncle and Aunt Miller. I then went to
a neighbor and got help. We returned, and after a long search finally went to
the well, and, oh! horrors, we there saw the bodies of husband and wife and the
little 2-months’ old baby dead.”

The farm houses of the following parties are
entirely destroyed: Sam Porter, George Hibler, L. Marinon, J. Baugh, H. Overman,
George Daniels, Mr. Gaudles, Sam Bealy, L. C. Robinson, Robert Robinson, Wm.
Petty and Wm. Pettit. The latter house took fire and burned. Wm. Kennel’s house,
also caught fire from the stove and was completely burned up.

Fort Scott, April 22, 2 a.m.---News has just
reached us here of a destructive wind storm at Prescott, Kansas, a small town of
about four hundred inhabitants, located on the main line of the Kansas City,
Fort Scott & Gulf road. The passenger depot was blown across the track and a
number of houses and barns were demolished.

Garnett, Kan., April 22.---The first cyclone
of the season for Kansas struck Colony in the southern part of this county
to-day, killing one woman, destroying several houses and doing a large amount of
other damage.

In Henry township, Vernon county the storm
struck with terrible destruction to life and property, and Dr. Whitfield and a
young man by the name of (______ are among) those who are known to have been
killed.

In the vicinity of Nevada many farm houses
were blown down, many persons injured and one little girl, a daughter of Geo.
Cheney, was killed outright.

Dead horses, cattle and other stock mark the
path of the storm.

Later news from Prescott, Kan., report two
persons killed and the town terribly wrecked.

(Continued on Second Page)

WIND AND HAIL.

_____________

Continued from first page.

The damage done by last Thursday night’s
storm was mainly in the country districts, consequently the work of collecting
the particulars has been very slow.

In this particular vicinity no additional
damage to that previously mentioned has been reported. The storm cloud divided
as it approached Appleton City, as they have so often done before, one section
going north and the other south of the city.

The little Hall boy belonging to the family
whose home in Monegaw township was blown to atoms, died Sunday and the others
injured will recover.

At Taberville the old Purington store
building was blown down, the Masonic hall building was badly damaged and a
number of small frame houses demolished. Across the river from Taberville fences
were scattered and large trees twisted, and blown in every direction.

IN VERNON COUNTY.

Nevada, Mo., April 23.---Additional
particulars from the storm-swept district show that over fifteen persons were
killed in Blue Mound and Osage townships, besides the lives lost in other
townships in the path of the cyclone.

John Armstrong’s residence is blown down; the
family escaped by the cellar; Geo. Kelley’s house came next for destruction,
fatally injuring his wife and two children. And old zinc trunk containing $150
in the house was blown three miles. Dr. Berry’s house was totally destroyed.
Mrs. E. Shront, Miss Shront and John Hight and about 18 other deaths are
reported, but the names can not be obtained.

Additional particulars from the storm-swept
district increase the number of cases of desolation and suffering. It is
estimated that from twenty to thirty dwellings were destroyed, and from 150 to
256 people left homeless.

Thos. Hawkins, who was reported probably
fatally injured, will get well, but Mrs. Hawkins will die of her injuries. Their
child was badly bruised, but will recover. Hawkins and his wife and child were
all found out in a field. The mother had the child in her arms when the storm
struck the house. When found the child was about 75 yards from where the house
had stood, while the father and mother were 150 yards away. John Miller and his
child were buried to-day, and Mrs. Miller is not expected to live. Her left leg
was broken and her hip crushed. She was semi-unconscious throughout yesterday,
never having rallied from the shock.

Among the wonderful things performed by the
wind was the moving of a foundation stone from Jake Boyer’s house, which weighed
fully 300 pounds, a distance of thirty or forty feet. Mr. Boyer’s cow was picked
up and carried a distance of 150 yards. Two steers belonging to Reuben Walton,
in Richland Township, were carried from one field to another. They were covered
with mud, but escaped without serious injury.

Two heavy farm wagons were picked up and
hurled through the air, only two wheels of which could be found, the spokes
having been wrenched from the hubs, and the tires bent and broken.

The dead body of John Miller was found under
an apple tree; his wife was unconscious and their little child was found
clinging to a limb of the same tree.

AT PRESCOTT.

(From the Rich Hill Daily Herald.)

At the time of going to press last evening we
were unable to give full particulars of the fearful ravages caused by the
cyclone of Thursday evening which passed over Prescott, Kansas, in a
northeasterly direction. In order to give a complete and as accurate a
description of the tornado as possible, a Herald reporter accompanied by A. C.
Cate, and Messrs. Johannes and Bussey as sight-seers, left to make a personal
inspection of the devastated section. At 2 o’clock last evening we reached
Prescott, and to give a description of the horrors of the situation it is
impossible to do. The cyclone struck the town farely from the west and leveled
nearly every house in the place, but few escaping injury of some description.
The main portion of the place is a total wreck, and frantic women and children
were rushing about the streets, seemingly aiming for no particular spot. The
streets were nearly obstructed with debris from the ruins, and pedestrianism is
next to an impossibility. Roofs of buildings, sidings, door casings, rafters,
sills, furniture, clothing, and every conceivable manner of wearing apparel is
scattered broadcast about the stricken place, and fragments of the wrecks are to
be seen over a mile to the east of the town. There are about thirty-five or
forty buildings all told, down or more or less damaged in some manner. It is
impossible to give an accurate estimate of the total loss, but it is
approximated at not less than $100,000.

Amid all this devastation and ruin, but one
person lost his life. Constable Stevens, who was standing in the door of Manlove
Bro’s. dry goods store. The building crushed him to the ground breaking his
neck. This was the only death reported in Prescott and it is truly miraculous
that there were not more killed. About 25 or 30 people were injured more or
less, but was thought that none were seriously hurt.

Although the reporter passed over the entire
track of the tornado, extending from three miles west of Rich Hill to Prescott,
Kansas, it is impossible to give anything like an entirely accurate account of
every farm house struck by the storm, from the fact that at many places we found
them deserted, and not a living soul left to tell the sad fate, excepting a poor
lonely canine howling piteously back of the ruins. Suffice it to say that within
the radius of the storm-path, but three or four buildings remain standing
between Hume and Prescott.

In Renick neighborhood, in Vernon county,
south of the Marmaton river, eleven persons were killed, among them John Miller.
This news is authentic, and came in this morning to Mr. Corroll of this city,
who is a brother-in-law of Mr. Miller, who is reported among the number killed.

STILL LATER NEWS.

The total number of people killed in Vernon,
Bates and St. Clair counties will be between fifty and sixty, while in Arkansas
the number is over seventy-five.

At Schell City the cyclone passed on
outskirts of the place, doing great damage to trees and fences. Several houses
were demolished. John D. High was killed and his wife and child mortally hurt.
Not a fragment of their dwelling remains. The house of the Gibson family was
blown away and one child suffered a broken arm. The loss in this, Vernon county,
is placed at about $70,000.

At Taberville, St. Clair county, houses were
unroofed and one man injured. John Hayes’ dwelling was blown down. It was
entirely demolished and afterwards took fire. C. H. Davis and Harry Sullivan’s
dwellings were destroyed. Many other buildings were badly damaged among which
was the Masonic hall. S. A. Hall was badly hurt.

Osceola, Mo., April 22.---A severe windstorm
visited this place last night at about 10 o’clock. Sidewalks were moved into the
street, window sashes were blown in, and many outhouses were tumbled over, as
well as chimneys. It was the heaviest windstorm that has visited this section
for some time, but reports are coming in that a little way south of this place
trees were torn up by their roots and fences blown away. Just before the wind
came, hail fell that measured 6 1-4 inches in circumference.

THE STORM IN MONEGAW TOWNSHIP AS SEEN BY A
JOURNAL REPORTER.

The rain and hail storm of Thursday night the
21st inst. swept over this Twp., in cyclone fury. Mr. Kinnish’s corn
crib being leveled before it, log barn for Mr. Evans unroofed , ditto stable for
Mr. Thrall, numerous orchards suffered by the uprooting entire of big healthy
apple trees in bloom-- but its full force and terror was vented upon the
premises of Mr. R. F. Hall opposite the handsome estate of Mark Allison, Esq.
Here it lifted from its foundation and tore to fragments the dwelling house and
contents. The debris being strewn in a southwest direction for 3-4 of a mile;
the family on the inside going with it and being terribly cut, bruised and
broken. By mere accident the family of Mr. Allison heard the cries of one little
boy who in some manner got loose from the wreck and Mr. Ed Allison being the
head of the family at home at that hour, nobly rushed into the blinding storm
and flying timbers to the rescue. They were at last all got into his father’s
dwelling. Mr. Hall is badly cut and bruised over his entire body. His wife
likewise, but it is hoped both will fully recover. One son Austin treated in
same manner with the addition of a broken arm, ditto Alex, with a fracture of
collar bone. Little Johnny the baby boy is injured beyond recovery with head
wounds. The building must have been carried in the frame several rods before
breaking entire and one can in that way only account for the terrible injuries
of the family. When found they were fairly stripped of the little night clothing
they retired with, and fairly driven into the soft muddy ground. It being
necessary to clip close the hair off every head to make even a start at a wash.
It is the country’s first real experience of this awful messenger of destruction
to life and property. We must all now do our full part in restoring to home and
comfort this stricken family. To Mr. Allison, Mr. Robert Williamson, Constable
Williams and Mr. Spry, especially, we all indebted for their prompt succor and
relief. We expect to do our full part. But help all around is needed, as
everything inside the house, furniture, clothing, &c., is destroyed.

J. G. C.

DIED.

On Sunday, at 1 p.m., John Douglas Hall,
infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Hall, of Monegaw Twp. Death resulting from injuries
received at the destruction of his parents home on Thursday night last.
Interment at Harmony church yard.